Railroad-rail joint



lNO Model.)

F. LIGHTPOOT.

RAILROAD RAIL JOINT.

No. 262,438. Patented Aug. 8, 1882.

WITNESSES: INVE UNITE STATES PATENT EFtcE.

FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT, OF MEDIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO BENJAMIN H.LIGHTFOO'I, OF ALLEGHENY, AND JAMES M. PRICE, OF LANSDOWNE,

PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILROAD-RAIL JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,438, dated August8, 1882.

Application filed March 30, 1882.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS LIGHTFOO'I, a citizen of the United States,residing at Media, in the county of Delaware, State of Pennsylvania,have invented a new and useful Improvement-in Railroad-Rail Joints,which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification andaccompanying drawings, in which y Figure 1 is a top or plan view of arailroadrail embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 is a side elevatioirthereof.Fig. 3 isa horizontal section in line w .r, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a verticalsection thereof.

1 Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in theseveral figures.

My invention consists of railroad-rails having their ends upset and soshaped that they retain their full weight of metal and lap one another,and so that when the rails are connected the tread of the rails at theends is of the same width as the original rails, and the rails possessgreat strength, simplicity, and smoothness, as will be hereinafter fullyset forth.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the ends of two adjacent railsof a railroad, which ends from the point a are upset and stamped orwrought to about half the width of the re- 0 mainder of the rails,whereby the tread of the upset ends of the two connected rails which lapone another form a tread of thesame width as the original rails. Byupsetting the rails at their ends, as stated, they are not weakened 5 orimpaired, but retain their full weight of metal, whereby the ends arestrong and durable, or even stronger and more durable than the remaininglength of the rails. Furthermore, as the ends of the rails lap oneanother,

the wheels of the cars or train run on both treads, thuspreventingjumpingof the wheels from one rail to another or the jarringof the wheels in making transit over the joints and the injury of thetexture of the rails, wheels,

5 and axles by cold-hammerin In order to connect the lapped'ends of therails, I pass through openings in the samebolts B B, which are providedwith tightening-nuts,

(No model.)

and, furthermore, form on the end of each rail between the tread andbase a longitudinally- 5o projecting lip, O, which overlaps the neck ofadjacent rail between the heads A and base A thereof, thus serving toconnect the ends of two adjacent rails at their sides and preventingrising thereof. The inner face of the end portion of one railis alsoformed with atongue,

b, and that of the other rail with a groove, 0, the tongue and grooveextending horizontally and longitudinally and interlocking, thuspermitting the ends to move on each other dur- 6o ing expansion andcontraction of therails, and also serving to prevent the rising of therails at the joint. Again, the point or shoulder a of one rail isopposite the extreme end of the other rail, and this, with the otherprovisions stated, obviates the necessity of fish-plates at the jointsof the rails.

In the drawings I show a plate, D, for lockingthe nuts of the bolts B,this, however, forming no part of the present invention.

The contour of the joint of the rails formed by the upset ends thereofmay be either the full or dotted lines shown in Fig. l or varied.

I am aware that it is not new to provide a rail with a lip or lug whichis introduced into a recess in a second rail to lock the two together. Itherefore do not broadly claim the same.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. Railroadrails having their contiguous ends upset so as to bereducedin width though retaining full weight, the upset ends lapping soas to form a tread about equal to that of I the full rail.

2. A railway-rail having a longitudinallyprojecting lip, O, incombination with a second rail, said lip being introduced into the spacebetween the tread and the base of said second railand overlapping theneck thereof, substantially as shown.

FRANS. LIGHTFOOT. Witnesses:

JOHN A. WIEDERSHEIM, A. P. GRANT.

